Big Bed Update

No matter how advanced you may believe your 2-1/2 year old may be, a bed rail is really a good idea for those first few weeks in a "big girl" bed. Yup, we heard a loud thud last night.....we were at Babies R Us as soon as church got out this morning.

Trains and a Big Bed

Today we went to visit my Aunt Anita and Uncle Bob. At Christmas time, Uncle Bob sets up quite the display of electric trains....how could any child resist (including Daddy!) He has been doing this at Christmas time ever since I can remember. It was awesome to watch Esther play with the same trains Daddy would play with as a kid. Thanks for letting us come over Aunt Anita and Uncle Bob!!

The other big news of the day was Esther's Big Girl Bed!!! She has been waiting a few weeks for this, since Daddy picked up the bed but hadn't gotten time to buy a mattress yet. So today we finally got one. She is now sleeping peacefully, dreaming of her new "big girl" status in life.....now on to potty training!

Catching Up, Part 2

Today I had the chance to catch up with another good friend who was in town for the holidays. Kim and I were friends in high school and also roomed together for a year in college. Maria, Shawna, Esther and Peter had a great time playing together, and it was wonderful to spend time talking with Kim and sharing what has been going on our lives. I was reminded again of the blessing of friends, even those that we don't get to see as often as we would like.

Catching Up

Today Casey and I were able to have brunch/lunch (what do you call a meal that goes from 10:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m.?) with some very good friends. Aaron and Mary live in Minneapolis, and Mark and Kristen live in Detroit. We don't all get together very often, but they were all in town to see relatives for Christmas, so we utilized the grandparents as babysitters and had a kid-free time of wonderful conversation, sharing, and reminiscing. Our friendship is the kind where we can go for months without talking or seeing each other, and when we get together it's like we just saw each other last week. There's never a lull in the conversation because we have so much to talk about. We are truly blessed by these friendships and wish we could do this much more often!

Waanders Family Christmas

We started our celebration of Christmas Day by going to church and enjoying a service full of Christmas carols, a reading of the Christmas story by some of the children, and a beautiful rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus sung by members of the congregation. It was a great way to start the day.

After church we went over to my parents' house to celebrate with them, my sister Karen, and two of my aunts. We opened gifts, shared a wonderful meal (including Death by Chocolate for dessert!), and played all day long. It was a relatively quiet, relaxing day and we enjoyed it very much!

We are so blessed to have such amazing families and friends, and we are thankful for all the people God has placed in our lives! Most of all, we are thankful for the gift of His Son.

Our Family Christmas

We started a new tradition this year. We decided to claim Christmas Eve as our day to celebrate Christmas with just the 4 of us. We both grew up doing that with our own immediate families, and wanted to start that tradition with our own family.

We went to church, came home and had a light lunch, and the kids took naps. Then we went for another walk (amazing!) and hung out for a while. Casey made us a fantastic dinner: Coke-Can Chicken on the grill, twice-baked potatoes, rolls, applesauce and sparkling grape juice. It was delicious! We read the Christmas story, gave the kids baths, and now they are in bed. Periodically throughout the day they opened one of their three gifts (ok, actually Esther opened hers and Peter's since he really didn't care). It was a fun, relaxing, wonderful day of just being together and starting a new tradition.

By the way, the picture shows what Esther wore on our walk: her yellow penguin fleece pants, her Dutch Wooden Shoe slippers (see previous post), and her new blue checked cooking apron. It was quite a look!

Kuperus Family Christmas

Tonight we celebrated Christmas with Casey's family. We had a delicious steak dinner, opened gifts, and just hung out. It was great to spend time with Grandpa and Grandma K, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Renee, and Uncle Nick. We all got some nice gifts, but the most unique had to be the "Dutch Wooden Shoe" slippers that Esther and Peter got from Grandpa and Grandma. The pictures really don't show how cool they truly are!

1st Birthday!

Today is Peter's first birthday. The birthday boy had a very full day....starting with going out for donuts with Mommy and Daddy and big sister. It was also 50 degrees outside, so we were also able to enjoy a nice walk in the afternoon....there won't be too many birthdays of his that we can do that! The day ended with a party for the big boy with all the grandparents and aunts and uncles.....he pulled in some nice loot (Daddy is excited about some of his gifts as well!) FYI, if you ever need someone to help you UNWRAP gifts, Peter's big sister is quite skilled and ready to help!

When Duty Calls

Today is our 9th anniversary. We went to the Amway overnight on Thanksgiving weekend, so we really already celebrated it. But when my parents offered to babysit so we could go out for dinner tonight, we figured we would take them up on it! They were going to arrive around 7:00. At 6:50, Casey's fire pager went off. We looked at each other. I know we were both hoping that it would be a "fire alarm" which means the on-call firefighters don't go to the call. Nope, it was "strong odor of smoke" at an apartment building. Definitely a call Casey needed to go to. At 8:00 I sent my parents home. Maybe we'll try again tomorrow night. At least I could sit here by myself and look at the beautiful flowers I got today!

A Little Christmas Spirit

Well, it may not be the straightest or most level house I ever built....but it sure was the most fun!! A couple of weeks ago, Esther and I decided to try to make a gingerbread house. I think we have a few things to learn for next year (like limiting how much a candy a certain girl should eat in one sitting), but all in all, we are both fairly happy with our efforts!